Volunteering
There has been tremendous interest in the proposals to save this iconic building with many people coming forward to offer their help. For that the Trustees are extremely grateful. We now have a group dedicated to learning about the history of the building and collating information for a historical archive.
Amongst the items we are looking at are:
- Stories of users and those who worked at the cinema.
- More information on art deco and how it has been used.
- The type of equipment that would have been used in the Royalty as a cinema.
- The films that were shown and the actors and actresses
- How the cinema impacted on Harborne life when it was a major form of entertainment.
Exploring the heritage of the Royalty will be an important feature of the Trusts work both during and after the restoration is complete.
The history and its place in the local community will be explored and uncovered through collecting objects and oral history recordings from the local community. The building will house a record of this heritage so that it is available to people now and in the future.
We would like the popularity of cinema to be better understood, the heritage of the Royalty and cinema in Birmingham better interpreted and explained through displays around the building along with regular participation at history events, presentations and through the website.
We would like to contact those who worked here and find out about the early films that would have been shown. Many people must have memories of the Royalty.
The style of the Royaltys interior needs to be better understood. It is described as art deco and we would like people to better understand and appreciate that art form. The Trust will look at providing placements which will enable skills in managing a listed building and disseminating information to be better understood and expanded. As we have been inspired by the success of other similar venues we will assist wherever we can to help other enterprises in the future.
We also have had approaches to link the building to architectural and social studies educational delivery and we see this as an important aspect of the Trusts work in the future.
Example: Zeffirellis Cinema Ambleside
A great example of a mixed use facility. Visit to see whats goes on.
These pictures are examples of cinema styles and the hard work of other groups around the country who have promoted knowledge of their own cinemas leaving a lasting legacy of images to be appreciated. Some of the above images are from www.stories-of-london.org